The Condo Crunch

Photo by Ryan Schmitz Don’t believe there’s a condo shortage in Downtown Milwaukee? Just ask real estate agent David Price, the self-dubbed Milwaukee Condo Man. “There’s limited inventory in every price range,” says the owner of Milwaukee Realty Inc., an East Side agency that sells Downtown units. “There are people who are mad at me […]

Photo by Ryan Schmitz

Don’t believe there’s a condo shortage in Downtown Milwaukee?
Just ask real estate agent David Price, the self-dubbed Milwaukee Condo Man.
“There’s limited inventory in every price range,” says the owner of Milwaukee
Realty Inc., an East Side agency that sells Downtown units. “There are people
who are mad at me because I can’t show enough in the $200,000 to $300,000
range.”

According to the Multiple Listing Service, there were 294
condos for sale in five Downtown ZIP codes in early July, including 74 with
accepted offers, leaving 220 available to would-be buyers. “In 2010, there were
probably 1,300 condos for sale, but people were afraid to purchase at the
time,” says Jean Stefaniak, an agent with the Stefaniak Group in Milwaukee.

Now, that’s no longer the problem. “There’s a shortage,”
Price says, “and it’s making the ones out there sell faster.”

The Moderne tower at West Juneau Avenue and Old World Third
Street has already sold half of its condo units, including the building’s
least-expensive listing, priced at $220,000. Those still available range in
price from $415,000 to $2.5 million.

Lauren Siegel, an agent with First Weber Group, says the
viability of a moderately priced development with high-end features, such as
Sub-Zero and Wolf brand appliances, is evidenced by “the velocity with which we
have been able to bring contracts to the table.”

What’s no longer popular is penthouse-style living with
spacious rooms and a hefty mortgage. “Within the last three years, there [has
been] a huge trend toward building smaller and smaller units, just a studio or
a one-bedroom,” says Bob Monnat, chief operating officer at the Mandel Group.
The Edge building, completed beside the Milwaukee River in 2009, is filled with
one- and two-bedroom condos.

With a dearth of new projects, buyers are primarily choosing
from preowned condos. Still, as Peter Renner of Renner Architects notes, the
demand is there for new buildings. The firm designed and built the Harbor Front
and Hansen’s Landing developments in the Third Ward as well as the BreakWater,
which is on the East Side and has only a few units available.

But today, such developments are said to be untenable.

“It costs more to build than you can sell them for,” Monnat
says, “and it’s impossible for a bank to make a loan.”

Other “shadow” condos currently occupied by renters may be
opening up, however, as owners push units back onto the market. In early 2013,
Mandel Group surveyed 3,120 condos within 35 Downtown properties and found that
816 (about one-quarter) were being rented, a number it predicts will fall to
“roughly 500 units” within the next few years.

This new reality is a far cry from the pre-bubble boom, when
construction surged between 2005 and 2007, but it’s coming up against another
reality: Younger adults are settling in the city, according to Mandel’s Monnat.
“None of these people are saying they want to live in Mequon.”

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A seasoned writer, and a former editor at Milwaukee Home & Fine Living, Kristine Hansen launched her wine-writing career in 2003, covering wine tourism, wine and food pairings, wine trends and quirky winemakers. Her wine-related articles have published in Wine Enthusiast, Sommelier Journal, Uncorked (an iPad-only magazine), FoodRepublic.com, CNN.com and Whole Living (a Martha Stewart publication). She's trekked through vineyards and chatted up winemakers in many regions, including Chile, Portugal, California (Napa, Sonoma and Central Coast), Canada, Oregon and France (Bordeaux and Burgundy). While picking out her favorite wine is kind of like asking which child you like best, she will admit to being a fan of Oregon Pinot Noir and even on a sub-zero winter day won't turn down a glass of zippy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.